Management · Holland code ECA
Advertising and Promotions Managers
Plan, direct, or coordinate advertising policies and programs or produce collateral materials, such as posters, contests, coupons, or giveaways, to create extra interest in the purchase of a product or service for a department, an entire organization, or on an account basis.
Also called: Ad Manager (Advertising Manager), Ad Sales Manager (Advertising Sales Manager), Promotions Director, Promotions Manager, Account Executive, Ad Accounts Executive (Advertising Accounts Executive), Ad Director (Advertising Director), Ad Sales Director (Advertising Sales Director).
O*NET 11-2011.00
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $133,660
- Middle half earn $91,370 to $201,050. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 4 of 5
- Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- Manage sales team, including setting goals, providing incentives, and evaluating employee performance.
- Plan and prepare advertising and promotional material to increase sales of products or services, working with customers, company officials, sales departments, and advertising agencies.
- Inspect layouts and advertising copy, and edit scripts, audio, video, and other promotional material for adherence to specifications.
- Formulate plans to extend business with established accounts and to transact business as agent for advertising accounts.
- Coordinate activities of departments, such as sales, graphic arts, media, finance, and research.
- Develop communications materials, advertisements, presentations, or public relations initiatives to promote awareness of products and services.
- Develop comprehensive marketing strategies, using knowledge of products and technologies, markets, and regulations.
- Direct, motivate, and monitor the mobilization of a campaign team to advance campaign goals.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Active Listening4.1 / 5
- Speaking4.1 / 5
- Critical Thinking3.9 / 5
- Reading Comprehension3.8 / 5
- Writing3.8 / 5
- Monitoring3.5 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Sales and Marketing4.7 / 5
- English Language4.7 / 5
- Communications and Media4.6 / 5
- Administration and Management4.5 / 5
- Customer and Personal Service4.5 / 5
- Administrative3.9 / 5
Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic0
- Investigative12
- Artistic48
- Social36
- Enterprising100
- Conventional57
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- marketing manager · DE Führungskraft für Marketing · FR responsable du marketing
- promotion manager · DE Werbeleiter/Werbeleiterin · FR responsable de la promotion des ventes
- advertising manager · DE Werbefachmann/Werbefachfrau · FR directeur de la publicité/directrice de la publicité
- advertising media planner · DE Mediaplaner/Mediaplanerin · FR chargé d’études média/chargée d’études média
- advertising media buyer · DE Mediakäufer/Mediakäuferin · FR acheteur d’espaces publicitaires/acheteuse d’espaces publicitaires
- advertising specialist · DE Werbespezialist/Werbespezialistin · FR spécialiste en publicité
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Marketing and commercial managers (2432)140,600 employed
- Advertising accounts managers and creative directors (2494)55,700 employed
- Public relations and communications directors (1133)32,200 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €61,714 |
| Germany | €59,529 |
| Ireland | €56,877 |
| Austria | €55,374 |
| Netherlands | €53,595 |
| Sweden | €43,567 |
| France | €41,515 |
| Spain | €35,735 |
| Italy | €33,649 |
| Portugal | €26,072 |
| Poland | €14,380 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +1.29. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.
Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.
Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (11-2011).
Related careers
Is it a fit for you?
Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.
Take the career interests test